The Village Hidden in the Heights
by Mari Falcon
Summary: Naruto and his team are sent on a mission to help find children kidnapped from the neighboring Village Hidden in the Heights. Will they succeed and make new friends? Multiple OCs. Written for my cousin.


Well, this is a one-shot that I made for my cousins.They are all in there. My youngest cousin, Benjamin is 7, he came up with the ideas, and I just went with his inspiration.

'Natsu' is my sister, Nicole and I think you can guess who 'Riyeko' is. Again, Benjamin's idea. 'Seiki' is in real life 16, but she's early 20's in the fic.

The Village and the Country mentioned are both made up, and Jizekage doesn't mean anything.

I do have one request: if anyone feels so inspired to draw out these characters, feel free. I suck at drawing and I know that my cousins would love it.

This is dedicated to my four cousins: Megan, Alex, Kathleen and Benjamin, who I love and (clearly) would do anything for.

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto

The Village Hidden in the Heights

"I have a very important mission for the four of you," Tsunade began.

Naruto was practically jumping out of his skin at those words. _Yay! A hard mission! I get to show off how much I've grown since Ero-sennin's been training me. _"Well, well, what is it? What is it?"

"Shut up, you moron," Sasuke muttered, giving Naruto the evil eye. _He never shuts up. A hard mission? Whatever. It'll be a cakewalk._

Sakura bonked him on the head. "If you'd let her talk, she'd tell us." _I wonder if he has some sort of mental problem. Besides terminal stupidity._

Kakashi sighed. _Sigh._

"Have any of you heard of the Village Hidden in the Heights?" Tsunade asked, leaning back in her chair and folding her arms.

Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura stared blankly at Tsunade and Kakashi nodded. "I heard of it once, a long time ago," he admitted. "It's a small village in the Land of Harvest. It borders Rock on one side and Leaf on the other."

Sakura frowned. "Why is it called the Land of Harvest, sensei?"

"The ground there is extremely fertile," Kakashi explained. "They always produce high amounts of harvest. Because they're so close to Rock, who often has problems with food shortages, the two have developed an alliance to keep the peace."

"And that brings me to the mission," Tsunade picked it up. "Rock has apparently decided that they shouldn't bother paying for the Harvest Country's crops when they can just invade and get all the food for free."

"And they want us to go and fight Rock for them?" Naruto asked excitedly.

"I don't know the exact details of the mission," Tsunade said. "They just asked for a genin team to come to the village. I assume you'll be told what they need you for there."

Naruto looked like he was about to protest something, but Kakashi interrupted. "When do we leave?"

"Tomorrow," the Hokage answered immediately, conspiring with Kakashi to keep the blonde boy quiet. "You will meet at the gates at eight o'clock and head toward the Land of Harvest."

"How will we know what the mission is?" Sasuke asked.

"A team from the Heights will meet you at some point during the next few days," Tsunade explained. "They will guide you the rest of the way and give you the mission details. Oh, by the way, blueberry and strawberry jam taste good together."

_So that's how we'll know them, _Kakashi thought, as the three genins stared blankly at the blonde woman.

"That's all," she chirped, quite cheered by their utter confusion. "You're dismissed."

As they walked out, Kakashi read his book, Naruto asked Sakura out, Sakura asked Sasuke out and Sasuke ignored everyone.

_I wonder, _Tsunade thought. _What would the Heights want with a genin team like that? _

1------------------------------------1

"When are they going to meet us?" Naruto whined. He literally dragged his feet along the ground as the team made their way east.

"Shut up, Naruto!" Sakura snapped, whacking him on the head. "God! You're such a baby!"

Naruto proved her case by whining and clutching his head. "Wah! Sakura-chan's so mean to me!"

"You know, it's not very safe to be that loud, little boy."

Kakashi shifted his attention to the young woman who had spoken as she stepped out of the trees. She wore a black skirt and tank top, with fishnets and a royal blue sash wrapped around her waist. He took note of the unusual headband she wore that kept her deep brown hair back. _I take it this is our welcoming party. Well, I'm not complaining. I've definitely had worse-looking. _

"Hey, lady, your hair is blue!" Naruto shouted, pointing at the streak of blue running through her hair.

Kakashi twitched. For some reason, Naruto's rudeness annoyed him more than normal today._Geez, doesn't that kid know what tact is? In any case, I should make sure she's for real and not some impostor. _"Indeed, blue like . . . blueberry jam."

"Blueberry jam?!" Naruto wondered loudly, as the light bulb above Sakura's head turned on.

The woman smiled as she recognized the code. "I personally prefer strawberry on my toast."

"I take it you are the ninja from Heights who is meeting us?" Sasuke interrupted, having figured out the code.

The woman smiled and nodded. "Yep, I'm Fusero Seiki. It's a pleasure to meet you. You three look like you'll do just fine for the mission we're on. Come on, I'll introduce you to the rest of the team and explain to you what's going on."

(Megan) turned and jumped into the trees, the other four following close behind her. They flew through the leaves, feet sure and confident. After just a few minutes, Seiki landed lightly in a clearing. There were the obvious remnants of a camp there, the fire was still burning, and packs were strewn on the floor.

"Oh, crap," Seiki muttered. "Where did they go?"

_She lost her team?_Sasuke wondered. _Just how incompetent is this Seiki woman? _

As the Konoha team worried for the stability of their new friend, a man stumbled into the clearing, eyes blank and hands grasping in front of him. He tripped and landed on Naruto, coughing a cloud of black smoke in his face. The man kept stumbling forward, until Seiki grabbed his arm and poked a pressure point on the back of his neck.

As the man fell to the forest floor, Seiki turned in the direction from which he'd come. "YUKIO!"

Kakashi, Sakura and Sasuke staggered at her volume, but Naruto, the one expected to react the most, simply lifted his hand and stared blankly at it.

Ten seconds after Seiki's bellow, which had scared all the animals in a one-mile radius, a boy came hurrying out of the brush. "Hi! Sorry!" The boy had spiky brown hair and a camouflage jacket. He wore his headband around his leg, where a kunai pouch would usually be.

Seiki put her hands on her hips and glared at him. "What is the matter with you, Yukio? Leaving the camp completely unattended? Letting him get away?" She pointed to the unconscious ninja on the ground.

"Listen to me," Yukio interrupted. "I don't know where that guy came from, but he suddenly invaded the camp and grabbed Benjiro. He took off and Kawa and I chased him. I put my mist on him, but he'd injured Benjiro. We were too worried about him to pay attention to this jerk. Besides, it's not like he can do any harm in this condition."

"Oh, yes, he can," Seiki snapped. "Or didn't you notice the blond kid over there?"

She gestured to Naruto who was slapping himself with a confused look on his face. "He's acting more stupid than normal," Sasuke observed.

"Oh, that's my fault," Yukio explained, grimacing.

"Darned right it is," Seiki answered. "Now stay with them while I get Kawa and Benjiro and make sure they're okay."

Yukio nodded as she vanished into the woods. He turned to the Leaf ninjas. "It's a side effect of my mist. Did that ninja breathe on him?"

Sakura nodded. "Yeah, some sort of black smoke."

Yukio nodded. "I create this mist that confuses the senses. He probably has a second-hand effect of it. Don't worry, my sister can get rid of it easily."

"Your sister?" Sakura asked. "Where is she?"

"Oh, she's coming," Yukio assured her. "She's just helping Benjiro, my brother."

Kakashi frowned. "Is Seiko your sister as well, then?"

Yukio nodded and stopped Naruto before he walked into a tree. "Yeah, the village leaders decided that the four of us worked really well together, so they made Seiki our sensei when we graduated."

As he finished speaking, a young girl with wavy, soft brown hair and a green dress hurried into the clearing. "Yukio," she complained. "This has been the worst day ever!"

"I know," he agreed. "Could you heal him? He accidentally got some of the Confusion Mist."

The girl, presumably Kawa, nodded and grabbed her pack. "It's not that hard, we just need to get him to drink a broth that I make and he'll be better really quickly."

She pulled out packs of herbs and began to boil water in a makeshift teapot. "Benjiro is okay, just so you know," she continued. "It was just a scratch, really. I healed him quickly."

"Where is he?" Yukio asked.

"Looking for that stupid monkey," Kawa answered, frustration evident in her voice. "It ran off for some really stupid."

"Monkey?" Sakura asked.

1----------------------------------1

The sun was setting by the time everyone was settled down. Naruto had been healed and was complaining that his face was hurting for no reason. The ninja that had kidnapped Benjiro was tied up and still confused. Team 7 had finally met Benjiro, the boy who'd caused all of the trouble.

He was sitting next to Naruto, a monkey perched on his shoulder, wearing a red Karate suit and grinning about his first battle wound.

"Benjiro, be quiet," Kawa complained. "We need to explain to Kakashi's team what the mission is."

"That's true," Seiki agreed, poking the meat that was roasting over the fire. "It's an infiltration mission."

Sakura frowned. "Aren't we young for an infiltration mission?"

Seiki shook her head and began to pass out the cooked food. "Actually, that's why you were chosen. There is a school of sorts that is in Rock, where we believe children kidnapped from the Harvest Country and the Village hidden in the Heights are being held and trained to be ninjas."

"So we need to go in there and bust them out! Dattebayo!" Naruto cheered, mind filling with images of glory and weeping, grateful children hailing him as a hero.

"Shut up and let her finish, Naruto," Kakashi ordered. _Besides, she has a nice voice._

Seiki smiled at him in gratitude. "Thank you. That is the eventual objective of the mission, but there are other things we need to do first."

"Like what?" Sakura asked.

"There are files that we need that are kept in an office there," Seiki continued. "Your mission will be to get those files and get out. Then Kakashi and I will take out the other ninjas so that we can free the children and bring them back. Is that clear?"

Everyone nodded. "Good, now we have a long way to go tomorrow and you six will need your rest," Seiki said. "So, Kakashi and I will strategize and you will get the rest you need. Understood?"

"Yes, Seiki-sensei!"

The six genins hurried off to their tents, the boys splitting two tents and Sakura and Kawa sharing one more. Seiki turned to Kakashi and smiled.

Kakashi gave her a one-eyed smile back. "So, first, you had better explain to me the strengths and weaknesses of your team."

Seiki nodded. "Well, even though they're young, they're very strong. Yukio has a special jutsu that creates a mist that confuses the five senses, as you saw. His other strength is tracking and spying, he's very stealthy when he needs to be. Kawa is our medic ninja and she's very, very good at it. If it weren't for her, we might have died several times. She's also fast, sometimes as fast as someone three times her age. And as for Benjiro, he's as strong as the other two, even though he's a few years younger. He has a special relationship with that monkey, Zaki. His strength is in a version of taijutsu known as Karate. He knows several B-rank Earth-style jutsus and uses them well. All together, they're a very good team."

"Hmm, that's all good," Kakashi said. "But you forgot something."

Seiki frowned, creases crossing her brow. "No, I don't think I did."

Kakashi's eye crinkled into a smile. "You forgot about yourself."

Seiki blushed. "Oh, well, I'm not that important."

"You're a Jounin, despite your young age, and you take care of your three younger siblings," Kakashi continued. "That isn't 'not important.'"

"If you insist—"

"I do."

"Then don't interrupt," Seiki admonished, flushing again.

In the girls' tent, Kawa smiled and buried her face in her pillow at the conversation between her sensei and the silver-haired leaf Jounin. Sakura rolled to face her and frowned. "Is something wrong, Kawa?"

The girl shook her head. "No, but I think my sensei likes yours. What about him?"

Sakura listened to the two Jounins talking for a while. Then she smiled. "He might. I know I've never heard him talking to anyone for that long, unless it was about a mission."

The girls grinned again and then rolled over with renewed efforts to go to sleep.

1-------------------------------------

The next day found the eight ninjas flying through the trees to the place where the kidnapped kids were being held. They'd decided on a basic plan of action, in which the kids would change out of their ninja gear and into civilian clothes and sneak into the camp. First, they'd get the classified information, and Kawa and Sakura would get it out of the camp. Naruto and Yukio would get the kids out of the way, and send up a signal. When Kakashi and Seiki saw that signal, they would come in and take out the guards and teachers of the camp, with backup from Sasuke and Benjiro.

That was the plan anyway.

The first part went smoothly. The genins had gotten into the camp without too much trouble; they'd had to knock out a guard or two and replace them with shadow clones from Naruto.

"Okay, now we need to find the office that the files are being kept in," Sasuke reminded them in a low voice. They were moving through the big, open yard where all the kids were milling about aimlessly at the moment.

"Yeah, but there are guards all around the doors," Naruto whispered. He was trying to be super-stealthy, hunched over and whispering, checking over his shoulder often.

"Stop acting like that," Benjiro scolded him. "We don't need any attention on ourselves."

Naruto scrunched up his face at the admonishment. "Shut up! You're younger than me! What do you know!"

Benjiro bristled at the other boy's tone. "Well, I know more than you if you don't even know how to be stealthy."

"Both of you shut up!" Yukio hissed. "The guards are looking at us!"

"Okay, we need to stop standing together," Kawa insisted. "Here's what we'll do, Sakura, Yukio and I will go in and get the files. When we have them, Yukio will come and get you, then Sakura and I will leave with them."

They agreed on that plan and split up. Naruto, Sasuke and Benjiro wandered in separate directions, Naruto trying to keep down the obvious movements.

1----------------------------------------

About half a mile from the camp, Kakashi and Seiki sat, waiting for the signal to go up. Seiki's mind drifted back to the long conversation the two of them had had the night before.

_The fire had died down to mere embers, which were glowing slightly in the dark forest. A silence had fallen between the two Jounins as they stared at the stars and enjoyed each other's company. _

_\"We should put more wood on the fire," Seiki observed. "It's getting low."_

"_It's fine," Kakashi murmured. "It brings out the red in your hair." _

_Seiki blushed again and prayed that the lowlight would hide it. "That's leftover from an old hair dye a couple of months ago. I let it wash out because I didn't like it."_

"_I like the way your hair is now," Kakashi said. _

_Seiki smiled. "Yeah, well, it just makes your hair look weird," she teased. _

"_Hmmm," Kakashi considered this new piece of information. "Well, we certainly can't have that." _

_With a quick jutsu, the Leaf ninja put out the last of the glowing embers. Now, they were only illuminated by starlight. _

"_How old were you when you became a Jounin?" Seiki suddenly asked. _

"_Ah, thirteen," Kakashi responded calmly. _

"_Uh, what?" _

_With a small smile, Kakashi pulled out his favorite book, just to see how she would react. _

"_You're a genius ninja and you read that?" Seiki wondered, staring at the famous orange cover. _

"_Hmm-mm. It's good. You should read it," he recommended. _

_Seiki grinned as a devilish idea came to mind. "Well, why don't I try it now?" _

_Without any more warning, Seiki tackled her fellow Jounin and wrested the book away from him. She burst into giggles as he stared blankly at the hand that had held his book a moment before. _

"_You," he whispered. "You took the book. You must pay!"_

_With those words, Kakashi jumped her and the two playfully wrestled until he had gotten his precious book back where it belonged, in his hands. _

"_We should probably get to bed now," Seiki said once she'd regained her breath from laughing and wrestling. _

"_Yeah," he agreed. Kakashi leaned in close to Seiki's face, until they were mere inches apart. _

Is he going to kiss me?_Seiki wondered, gulping. _

_Kakashi stared at her for a moment, then gave his trademark one-eyed smile and said simply, "Good night."_

_Seiki glared at him until he disappeared into his tent, then huffed into hers. _

1-----------------------------

"Darn it," she muttered.

"What's wrong?" Kakashi asked. "Is something wrong with your team?"

Seiki frowned and stared in the direction of the camp they had invaded. "No, everything's fine."

Kakashi looked about to respond, but suddenly, a flare went up from the direction of the camp. Seiki and Kakashi leaped to their feet.

"That's the signal!" Seiki cried.

The two Jounin jumped forward. "It was awfully quick," Kakashi noted. "Do you think something went wrong?"

1----------------------------

Naruto stared up at the sky, then at the hole in his shirt, where the rocket he'd accidentally set off had flown out of him. His gaze turned to the yard where he was standing, to see the numerous kidnapped children and guards staring at him, and Sasuke and Benjiro glaring at him.

He grinned and rubbed the back of his head.

"Oops."

At that comment, the guards decided to snap out of their flare-induced daze and react to the presence of intruders.

"Way to go, Naruto!" Sasuke shouted.

"We need to get the kids out of here!" Benjiro reminded them as the kidnapped children began to panic.

"Well, do you have any ideas, kid?" Naruto asked, dodging the shuriken from the first few guards.

Benjiro grinned. "Of course I do!" The monkey, Zaki, scrambled to Benjiro out of wherever he'd been hiding.

Zaki sat on top of Benjiro's head as the boy hurried a few handsigns. "Combination Transformation!"

After the poof of smoke disappeared, everyone saw a giant, ten-foot monkey standing there with a headband around his arm. The monkey ran forward, scooping up two and three children in each hand, and a few more in his tail.

The other children stared dumbly after him until Naruto created twenty shadow clones to carry the others out, following Benjiro-Zaki.

The real Naruto and Sasuke then turned their attention to the guards who were pouring out of the building. "You brats! We'll kill you!"

"Why did we trust you with the flares?" Sasuke snarled as the battle began.

1-------------------------------

Inside the building, the other team was having similar problems. Yukio had been using his mist on all the ninjas they'd come across, but now, he and the two girls were pinned down and his chakra was running low.

"Kawa," he whispered. "We need your help."

The girl smiled at her brother, reached down and took off her shoes. She dropped them to the floor, where they made dents as they landed. Sakura's eyes widened as the girl began to run up the wall, over the ceiling, down the other wall, and across the floor. Kawa repeated the process until she was nothing but a blue blur going in circles. Yukio was grinning as she built up speed.

All of a sudden, Kawa switched directions and charged at the ninjas. They stared in amazement, unable to comprehend that a child was moving that fast. Before they could regain their composure, she had swept by them, hitting pressure points and knocking them out.

Yukio grinned. "Awesome, Kawa!"

The girl knelt down and gasped for breath. "Thanks," she panted.

Sakura smiled at the two. "You guys wait here, I'll sneak in and get the papers."

1---------------------------------------

Outside, Naruto and Sasuke weren't doing too well.

Naruto took another hit to his stomach and doubled over. He fell down, did a somersault and kicked the guard who attacked him in the knees. The guard howled in pain and Naruto jumped up and smashed his fist into the man's jaw.

He didn't have much time to celebrate his victory as another two guards attacked him. He dodged one, but the other landed a series of punches to his bruised ribs. He hissed and fell back, bringing a kunai up into a defensive position. He felt Sasuke press against his back so that they were back-to-back surrounded by a ring of guards.

"How do you always get us into trouble?" Sasuke snarled.

Naruto bristled, but didn't respond. He couldn't breath, his ribs were on fire and he had sprained his ankle. Sasuke was in a little better shape, but not much.

Just as the ninjas gleefully moved in for the kill, a gravelly voice shouted, "Earth style: protection wall!"

The earth moved up, springing around the two boys in a surrounding wall. It dropped a second later, to reveal Benjiro and Zaki, still in their transformed form, taking on six guards at once with their unique taijutsu. They spun, amazingly agile despite the size of the monkey. He punched the ground hard, creating a mini-shockwave that knocked the ninjas off their feet. Benjiro/Zaki took advantage of that to

Naruto and Sasuke fought the other four, Naruto Rasengan-ing one and Sasuke burning two more with a giant Katon jutsu.

They three boys held off the ninjas for about two more minutes until the Jounins arrived. Seiki was the first to show up. She sped through some handsigns and whipped out a scroll.

"Summoning: Water Release!"

From the scroll, a stream of water exploded, flooding the area. Seiki moved her hands in a quick jutsu and the water began to flow in a controlled spiral around her. Her sash lifted up with the water and fluttered around her.

"Water style: water whip jutsu!"

The streams of water snapped out from her, cracking against the remaining guards. They flew backwards, crashing hard against trees and other things.

Seiki hurried through another jutsu and changed the water whip to water binds. The ninjas struggled against the water holding them down, but the chakra-enforced water was too much for them.

Over where Benjiro was, he had taken out all of the ninjas he had been fighting. He was carefully tying them up with his over sized monkey hands.

"Benjiro!" Seiki called. "Find the other three and make sure they're safe."

Benjiro/Zaki nodded and ran through the nearest wall into the compound.

Seiki and Kakashi winced. "He has an extremely thick skull," Seiki explained.

1---------------------------------------

Inside the building, Sakura was busy fighting, or rather, hiding from, a few ninjas that were guarding the files room. She hunkered down, trying to keep out of their line of fire and thought desperately on what to do.

"Come out, girlie!" One of them shouted.

Before her she could come up with a plan, the wall next to her exploded and a giant monkey stepped through. Sakura stared in amazement as the monkey proceeded to demolish the ninjas who were attacking her.

The monkey then did a handsign and poofed, revealing Benjiro with Zaki sitting on his shoulders. The little boy grinned at her. "Are you okay, Sakura?"

Sakura stared, then slowly nodded. "Yeah, I'm okay."

She scrambled to her feet and began to search through the office for the files they needed. They were marked by red post-it notes and she found them quickly. "Found them!"

"Great!" Benjiro chirped. "Let's get out of here and back home!"

Sakura nodded and the two of them ran out of there. They arrived out at the yard where Kakashi, Seiki, Naruto and Sasuke were waiting. "I've got the file," Sakura called.

"Good. Kawa and Yukio informed me that they were going to where Benjiro took the kidnapped kids," Seiki responded.

"I'll show you where," Benjiro offered. "This way!"

The six ninjas hurried through the woods to where the kidnapped children were huddled. Kawa and Yukio were indeed there, and Kawa was doing an impressive job healing all of the injuries and soothing the kids.

Seiki had called for backup to help detain the prisoners and take the children back to their homes. The eight ninjas were waiting, guarding the guards and taking care of the kidnapped kids, who were slowly calming down and trusting the ninjas.

Within a couple of hours, the reinforcements had arrived and they all began the journey to the Village Hidden in the Heights.

As they traveled through the woods, a kunoichi came up to Seiki's side. The dark-haired kunoichi grinned at her. "Hey, Natsu!"

The other kunoichi grinned back. She had curly blonde hair, bright blue eyes and wore a short, pink and green kimono. "Hey, the Jizekage wants to see the Leaf ninjas before they're sent back to Konoha, okay?"

Seiki nodded. "Yeah. Hey, Kakashi," she called.

"Hm?" Kakashi pulled his nose out of the orange book.

"I'd like you to meet my cousin, Natsu," she smiled.

Natsu smiled and waved at Kakashi. "Hi." She shot a look between the two, a considering look in her eyes. Then she snickered.

"What?" Seiki demanded. "What is with that face?"

Natsu grinned. "Oh, nothing."

They continued to fly through the trees until they arrived in the middle of a huge forest, with trees twenty feet thick. Natsu led Seiki and Kakashi's squads to a certain large tree, while the other ninjas took the prisoners elsewhere. Natsu did a couple of jutsus and several sections of the wood moved apart, revealing the tree was hollow. The nine ninjas stepped inside and an elevator moved them upwards through the trees. After a while, and a couple of popped ears, it stopped and again the tree moved out of the way.

The ninjas stepped out. Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura and Kakashi stared around them. There was a platform in front of them, and one around every single tree as far as the eye could see. There were bridges and stairs connecting them across the trees and levels. The entire city was up in the trees.

"This is why it is called the Village in the Heights," Seiki explained, pride shining in her voice.

"That is so cool!" Naruto cheered. He ran to the railing and looked over it. "Woah! We're really far up!"

"Hey, come on," Natsu called. "The Jizekage wants to meet you."

She led them through the Village, crossing numerous bridges until they arrived at the Jizekage building. Natsu brought them inside and to the office of the leader of the Heights Village. They entered the room and looked to the Jizekage sitting behind the desk. She was a young woman, just a few years older than Seiki and Natsu. She had kinky, curly brown hair and hazel eyes.

The Jizekage Riyeko stood and smiled at the nine ninjas. "Welcome home!"

The Heights ninjas all smiled back, Benjiro and Kawa running forward to give her hugs. Riyeko laughed and embraced them both, scooping them up off their feet. She laughed and set them back down. "I hear you two did so well! I'm so proud of all of you!"

Yukio scratched the back of his head and toed the ground. Seiki smiled back and brought her shoulders up in an almost-shrug.

"Don't tell me she's related to all of you, too," Kakashi said, looking at the six ninjas.

Riyeko laughed. "Guilty as charged. The four you worked with are my younger cousins and Natsu is my sister."

"All in the family, I guess," Kakashi commented.

"Well, after hearing all about your mission, I was incredibly impressed, with all of you, but I'd have to say that the hero of the day was Benjiro," she admitted.

The boy lit up. "Really? You think so?"

Riyeko nodded. "Yup. Without you, the kids might have been caught in the crossfire during your fight and Sakura wouldn't have gotten those files. You saved the mission, kiddo."

"For this," she continued. "I am awarding you the Heights Medal of Bravery."

Benjiro and Zaki began glowing with pride and happiness. "Really?"

Riyeko nodded and reached for a small case on her desk. She opened it up and pulled out a small silver medal on a red ribbon. Proudly, the Jizekage placed it around her younger cousin's neck.

"And one for Zaki," she said, slipping a smaller medal around the monkey's neck.

"Congratulations," she said.

Seiki and the others were very happy for him. Unfortunately, the Konoha ninjas had to go back to their home.

Kakashi's team stood just outside the tree-elevator.

"It has been a pleasure working with all of you," Riyeko smiled. "Thank you so much for your help with this mission."

Kakashi nodded back. "Well, it was an experience we won't forget."

As the Height ninjas spoke to the Konohans, Kakashi stepped up to Seiki. "So."

"Hm. So what?"

"I am glad I met you," Kakashi said, leaning down. "And I hope to see you again soon."

With that, he pressed a small kiss to her cheek and stepped back, gathering his three little genins for the trip back to their Village.

Seiki flushed bright red as she watched the Leaf ninjas step into the elevator. Natsu grinned, desperate to tease her about the budding romance. Yukio, Kawa and Benjiro waved frantically, sad to see their new friends leave.

Riyeko watched them all, Leaf and Height, a small smile on her face. "Well, things worked out quite nicely. I'll have to tell Tsunade."

1----------------------------------------

Back in Konoha, Tsunade smiled reading the message from the Jizekage.

_Lady Hokage,_

_Thank you for your assistance with the mission. It could not have been completed without Kakashi's team._

_I was very glad to hear that you will be accepting Kawa into your village for a little while. She is most excited to be able to study in your library. I will be sending Seiki with her as well._

_You may want to tell Kakashi that. _

_Oh, if Benjiro comes along next time, please keep him away from Naruto. If those two get together with too much free time, bad things will happen._

_I wish you and Konoha nothing but the best, now and for the future._

_Riyeko_

_Second Jizekage_

1--------------------------------------------

Well, that's all folks. I suppose if enough people want it, I could continue the story, but this is all for this one-shot.

Again, someone out there, just do a little sketch of the four Heights ninjas. It would mean the world to them. Sorry if the ending is rushed. It is 4:19 AM and I just want to get in bed already.


End file.
